Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 314th Edition

I start out with this French film from Luis Bunuel. This is a film that really does not have much plot but focuses on six friends of upper class who are trying to have a dinner together but keep having interruptions. Each character have their own dream sequences and even have dreams within dreams which are all done very well. This is a very unconventional and surreal film but is quite the classic among the French cinema.

It looks like I featured this around the right time as we have just had local election. This dark comedy focuses on the ever popular position of school president at a high school. Reese Witherspoon stars as the conniving Tracy Flick who gets the position every year unopposed and assumes in the senior year she will get it again. Matthew Broderick co-stars as teacher Jim McAllister who decides he wants a more democratic election and talks star football player Paul Metzler, played by Chris Klein, into running against her. Eventually his loose cannon sister Tammy, played by Jessica Campbell, decides to run herself. Jim does everything he can to sabotage the election for Tracy but finds his own life going downhill and also begins to stoop pretty low to get what he wants. This is a great dark comedy and satire with Witherspoon and Broderick doing a great job in their parts. This is a very underrated comedy that was produced by MTV and likely their best movie produced.

This was what I call a leftover for what I intended to use for Elizabeth's contest but I did not get to it as I was very busy. I see this would have gotten me quite a bit of points. This is another movie that shows the hardship of high school. Jess Weixler stars as Dawn who finds she has quite an advantage with men try to take advantage of her. She is first an advocate for things like abstinence but temptation arrives and is when she discovers her strange gift. NIP/TUCK alum John Hensley co-stars as her stepbrother Brad. This is a pretty fun horror/comedy but must have a good stomach and is not for everyone.

This is my BBC film for the week which takes place during WWI. Daniel Radcliffe plays John Kipling, the near 18 year old son of famed JUNGLE BOOK writer Rudyard Kipling, played by David Haig. Rudyard is determined to get his son into the war to fight for his country and uses his influence to get him into the military even though his eyesight is very bad. John soon goes pretty high up in the military but comes up missing. SEX AND THE CITY alum Kim Cattrall plays Rudyard's wife Caroline and Carey Mulligan plays the daughter Elsie. The females of the family are more opposed to John joining the military and talk Rudyard into looking for their family member. Radcliffe showed in this movie that he can go past Harry Potter and Cattrall also put on a good performance showing she is more than Samantha from SEX AND THE CITY. This was a pretty moving film and a good depiction of WWI.

This is my short film for the week which was on the dvd of last week's feature IN THIS OUR LIFE. This takes place in Spain and shows a group performing the ballet CAPRICCIO ESPAGNAL. This was a pretty entertaining few minutes and is good for classic short film buffs.

This is based on the famed novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Actress Anne Shirley plays the title character whose name just happens to be Anne Shirley. O.P. Heggie plays elderly farmer Matthew Cuthbert and Helen Westley plays Marilla Cuthbert who is his sister. They are expecting to adopt a boy to help with the farm but instead get this red-headed girl who Matthew takes an immediate liking but Marilla must get a little more used to her. This takes a look at a young girl trying to adjust to a new society of people being a bit of an outsider. I had seen this as a play one time at Muncie Civic Theater and that version was a bit different. This is the first movie version I have seen. Shirley pulled the part of pretty well and is a pretty moving story.

This is a movie on the Smith family. James Whitmore stars as Joe who works at an aircraft family. When listening to the radio he says he hears the voice of God and learns that other people heard the same thing. This continues to happen upon the radio in which some people react negatively and positively but focus most on the Smith family consisting of the two parents and their son Johnny. William Wellman directed this film and is one of his more unknown films. This movie is not the greatest but is watchable and interesting in the way the characters must rethink their beliefs.

This is a prison film which is based on a play by Miguel Pinero. Bruce Davison stars as Clark Davis who is sent to prison for being a child molester and finds that the justice within the prison is even harsher than the justice in the court. This movie in no way glorifies prison life and appears to be a pretty authentic look into prison though I guess I would no know since I have never been there. This would be a pretty daring play to actually do in most theaters. This would have to be done in the Muncie Civic Studio Theater is they were ever to take this project on. Look for younger Luis Guzman and Mark Margolis who have parts in this film. The writer of this play wrote this while in prison himself in Sing Sing prison as part of a writers workshop. When the movie premiered he was incarcerated for armed robbery and was said to have lived on the streets upon release even after the success of the film. This is a pretty overlooked prison film that I hope to put on the radar.

This is part two of a two-part Julianne Moore series in which I used CHILDREN OF MEN last week. Atom Egoyan directed this erotic thriller which stars Julianne Moore as a doctor named Catherine who is married with a teenage son. Liam Neeson plays her husband David who she suspects of cheating on him. She soon hires an escort named of the title, played by BIG LOVE alum Amanda Seyfried, to spy on her husband and try to seduce him. Soon, more unforeseen events end up putting others in danger. If I explain anything else I might give this away. This is by no means for everyone and is pretty erotic. I was actually watching this at home and my mom came back and surprisingly watched the last hour or so with me. I noticed she was at least intrigued by the film on what might happen next. I thought Seyfried did a pretty good job as the title character. I was also quite intrigued by the film up to what I felt was a good conclusion. This is not for the family.

I end this week with this rock documentary on the alternative band who were popular in the mid 80s to early 90s until their breakup. Kurt Cobain has acknowledged them as a big influence to him and many other bands. This movie focuses on a 2004 reunion tour they put on. A lot of this focuses on band member Kim Deal's rehabilitation with alcohol and Frank Black's family. There is a lot of reflection on events that broke them up. One of the highlights is a younger fan who learned of them through a book and wanted to form a cover band for them. The Pixies is not a band that everyone who reads this will know. I had some knowledge of them before the film but now I have a new respect for them and their music. This is a great rock documentary of an unknown group who may then make you look for their music on cds or the internet sites. This can be found on Instant Netflix and next week will start with a rock documentary.